To Be Mortal
by Demyn
Summary: The boys... all in school. But a pretty normal day turns out to be they worst day in history as new rivals appear from normal students. Hell raises up and it’s up to the boys to kill the evil and save the school. Only one thing is in their way - their m
1. Chapter 1

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To be Mortal-- The boys... all in school. But a pretty normal day turns out to be they worst day in history as new rivals appear from normal students. Hell raises up and it's up to the boys to kill the evil and save the school. Only one thing is in their way - their mortality.--

Disclaimer: I don't not OWN nor did I create these wonderful little characters that I *heart* so much! *praises the creators*

~*~

"Dude, I HATE school," Kento mumbled over the monotone voice of the teacher's lecture. He continued to pick at the chipped part of his desk as he looked at Ryo. 

Ryo exhaled in something not far from boredom. "Gods, when is this freaking guy gonna shut his hole?"

Kento dropped his pencil in attempts to cover his laugh. "_Today_, hopefully..."

Ryo and Kento sat in the back of the small classroom, making small conversation in order to keep themselves alive in the world of lectures. Among the two warriors were 23 other young learners, some alert, some bored, and some asleep. 

Kento stuck out his tongue and bit it, looking around the classroom and trying to find something else for his hungry mind to feed on. His eyes were tempted to stare down the class punk, Nicholas, more widely known as Nic. But Kento liked to call him 'Nic the Dick.' But he chose not to because the last time they had a stare down, it ended up in the school parking lot and it took both Ryo AND Sage to get him from pulling his earth defying moves on Nic. Kento gritted his teeth by just the thought. Kento sighed, giving up, and grabbed his pen, attempting to doodle on the back of his notebook. 

Ryo sighed and pulled a hand through his thick black locks of healthy hair. He couldn't concentrate even though he KNEW that he had to listen to this lecture. His listening meant that he could pass this stupid class. 

"Pass with a D-," he grumbled, crumpling yet another note he had written to Eve. He admired her. Admired her attentiveness in class, her pixy cut black hair, her eerie blue-white eyes, her awful attitude.... god, she hated him. Ryo never figured out why he adored the girl that hated her guts. Maybe it was because she was dating Nic. Nic. The wannabe pyromaniac. His hair was even dyed fire-red. Ryo quickly doodled a picture and threw it at Kento. 

"What the fuck....?!" Kento snickered. Next to the lame drawing of Nic being burned at the stake, Kento wrote 'Quality!' and threw it back at him. 

_'What's up with Evelyn? Did you ever talk to her? Did you give her the note?' _Ryo wrote and then handed to Kento.

_'Eve? Dude, fuck that. She doesn't like you and even if she did, Dick-face would be all over your shit. Besides, she's like... gothic or something. You're more, I dunno, prep. Get it?'_

_'Eve isn't gothic! She just wears a lot of black sometimes. She doesn't do the nasty chokers and big boots like the rest of the goths here. Did you talk to her or not!?'_

_'Yea, I talked to her.'_

'Well, what the hell did she say? What did she say about everything?'

Kento drew a stick figure of Eve crossing her arms around her chest and made a speech bubble next to her, _'Ryo? Ryo can fuck himself.'_

Ryo groaned and squished the note into a tight wad. He cursed under his breath. 

"Sorry, dude." Kento replied. "You know I tried for ya-"

"KENTO!"

"Shit...- Yes, Sensei?"

"Would you like to share your secret to the whole class?"

"No, Sensei."

"Then I suggest you pay attention! You know your grade is falling."

Kento rolled his eyes and nodded his head. He caught Ryo snickering and when the teacher turned around, Kento gave him the ol' middle finger. 

"Nice, Kent, nice." Ryo whispered. 

No one got another word out when the bell rang. Ryo shouted a "Yippee!" and grabbed his books, quickly headed for the doorway. But just wildfire's luck, he ran straight into his crush. 

"Watch the fuck where you're going, Sananda!" She cried, bending over to pick up her books. 

"Ah, I'm sorry," was all he could blurt out. "Lemme help-"

"No, I don't think so. You've done enough already."

Ryo looked down at her in confusion, "...What do you mean by that?"

Eve shook her head and looked at him like he was dumb, "The note. You're so mature. Drawing a picture of two dogs having sex is REAL funny."

Ryo's eyes ballooned, "Wh-What!?"

"Yeah, Kento, your 'messenger', said it took you a long time to write it." She gave him an evil glare and stood up. "I told you the first time. I don't like you. I don't know why... you just send off this vibe of immaturity. You're real lucky I didn't show that to Nic. He would have you in a locker somewhere."

Ryo shook his head and squinted his eyes, "Whatever, Eve. Kento gave you the wrong note and I highly, HIGHLY doubt that your boyfriend could even lay a hand on me-"

"What's up, Ryo?" Nic gave his shoulder a little punch, then placed his hand on Eve's waist and kissed her neck. "You okay, babe?"

"Yea, we're just talking, Nic. Everything's..." she paused to look Ryo up and down, "fine."

Ryo bit his lip to keep his mouth from getting the better of him. He just nodded his head and walked towards the door. 

Ryo slammed his fist into his blue locker and groaned loudly.

"Rough day, Ryo?" Sage asked, staring at the dent in his locker. 

"Fuck this. You know that note you helped me work on for Eve?" Ryo waited as Sage nodded his head. "Well Kento fucked it ALL up. He gave her some freaking picture of two dogs fucking. Now I KNOW she hates me." 

Sage closed his eyes. "I'm sorry, Ryo. I don't know what to tell you." Sage opened his locker and shoved his books inside. "Except..." he pulled out a loose piece of paper. "I have an extra copy right here!"

Ryo squealed, "Sage! You're the BEST!" 

"I was going to keep it for future reference, but hey..."

"This made my day. I don't think I need to kick Kento's ass now."

Sage laughed.

"Ryo!"

Ryo and Sage both turned heads to see Jen run down the hallway. Jenesis was a normal, hyperactive cheerleader with long blonde hair and gleaming brown eyes. She was Rowen's ex, but ironically, she still was able to maintain somewhat of a neutral friendship with the rest of them. But Ryo liked her. Ryo liked her because her best friend was Eve.

"What's going on, Jen?" Ryo asked, getting his chemistry books out his locker and folding his note. 

"Nothing, I just heard from Eve that-"

"No, no, no. THIS," he held up the folded note, "is the REAL one. Can you do me a favor and give this to her next period?"

"Sure! We have literature outside today 'cause it's so nice out. She will be able to read it... and if she doesn't, I'll make her!" Jen blurted out. Then she spotted Sage. A twinkle suddenly hit her eyes. "Hey Sage, I didn't even notice you."

"Nah.... um- its cool, Jen. I gotta go to my next period... can we talk later?" Sage replied nervously.

Jen smiled, knowing Sage was always nervous around girls, "Sure, hun."

Ryo shook his head, chuckling as Sage speed-walked down the hall, "Why are you trying after him? You know better than that! Ro would flush him AND you out,"

Jen laughed, "I know. See you later, I gotta run!"

Ryo laughed as he walked down the hall to his next class, hoping and praying that Eve would understand him.

~*~

Sage plopped himself down in the chair beside Rowen in the computer lab. 

"Why the long face, Sage?" Rowen asked, smiling sweetly.

He sighed, "Jen."

Rowen scowled, "What did she say this time?"

"Nothing, nothing. She's just..."

"Being Jen."

"Exactly." Sage pursed his lips together and opened his civics book. "I got this hardcore paper due tomorrow in civics and I haven't even started, " he mumbled. It was more to himself, but Rowen heard him anyway. 

He chuckled, "Don't _even _ask me. Besides, I got better things to worry about. Twister has already gotten me stressed."

"What... are you talking about that science invention thingy?"

"Yep. He's been bragging all week." 

Sage laughed, "You can't win all the time, Ro-"

"YES, I can, Sage. Are you doubting me?"

"Whatever." 

"I'm NOT going to lose. I'm not." Rowen gripped the sides of his keyboard. "He's been braggin' about his freaking invention and says that 'only the sensei knows' and yesterday, I heard that the sensei gave him praise for it!" Rowen slammed his fists on the keyboard, "He's just some retarded freshman!"

Sage raised his eyebrows, "Speaking of the devil..."

Rowen turned around in his chair and watched as Twister came through. Twister was indeed a freshman, a freshman with bright leaf-green hair that was as natural as Rowen's dark blue locks. All the girls ranted and raved about his lively turquoise eyes. But the thing that Rowen hated most about him was his IQ that was rumored to be around 270. 

Twister caught Rowen's grim glare out of the corner of his eye and walked his way. "Well, well, well. What's troubling you, Hashiba?" He laughed for he knew him all too well. "Is it the fact that you're going to lose at the annual invention convention next week?!" Twister brought his hand up to his mouth as he faked a crude laugh. 

"You're invention is going to be kissing my feet when I get mine out. It will blow yours out of the water!" Rowen stuttered. 

"Hmph. I bet." Twister changed his grim smile to one frown of hatred, "You'll be getting a free showing during lunch today. You won't be able to compare for what's coming for you."

Sage and Rowen exchanged confused glances, "What the hell was that all about?" Rowen asked Sage as Twister left and headed for the opposite end of the room, "Is he _trying_ to intimidate me?"

Sage shrugged but watched as Twister sat down next to Nic. Then they started talking. Sage knew they were talking about something important because of the looks on their faces. "Hey, Ro."

"Yeah?"

"Since when did Nic and Twister start talking?"

Rowen looked over at them and gave a effortless shrug, "Dunno. But Nic is probably asking Twist to write him a paper or he's going to beat him up."

Sage chuckled, "Maybe. And speaking of papers..."

~*~

"Eve!" Jen ran outside, far behind her class that had already been outside for 5 minutes. 

Evelyn looked up from her paper sitting in her lap, "Jen, what's up!? You're late!"

"Shhh!" Jen sat down next to her friend underneath the big apple tree and handed her Ryo's note. "This is Ryo's real note that he wanted to give you. Just read it, please."

Eve rolled her eyes, "What the hell..."

Jen stood back up, "Eve, just fucking read the thing. I have a good feeling about this boy."

Eve bit her tongue, "Whatever. I guess I'll read it."

Jen smiled, "Good. I'll be right back cause I gotta explain myself to the teacher."

Evelyn folded her long legs underneath her and unfolded the letter. "Dear Evelyn. I know you don't want to hear from me right now, but just hear me out for 3 minutes. I know you don't like me. I know that you're with Nic. I want you to know that I know those two things before you read on. I like you. It can't be put any easier. I love thinking about you.... thinking about your eyes and how you would look with me. But right now, all I'm asking is that we be friends. I don't want anything else right now except for that. -Ryo."

Evelyn smiled. It was short and she liked it.

Jen ran back down to her friend and plopped herself on the ground. "So... what did he say?"

"Well, honestly, I was expecting this asshole to write me something about how me and Nic should break up and how he wants me or something... but this letter... he's... well, he seems innocent and sweet."

Jen cracked a huge smile. "I told you! Back when I was dating his friend Rowen, Ryo was the big sweetheart of them all. He's a huge teddy bear."

Eve shook her head and laughed, "Alright, but that still doesn't mean that I'm going to break up with my Nicholas."

"Evelyn... Nic is a freak! I'm sorry but he is. And he is really acting weird lately! He keeps talking about how shitty the cafeteria is and how he's going to 'spice it up' lately. Do you know what I mean? What is up with that?"

Eve swallowed, "Yeah I know what you mean. But we've been together for 8 months. That's a long time to stay committed for me."

Jen nodded. 

"I trust him so much... you know he's just saying stuff to be saying it." Eve sighed and bit her bottom lip. "But I will tell you what I'm going to do... I'm going to write Ryo back." She smiled and ripped a piece of paper out of her notebook and began to write.

~*~

Cye and Kento sat in cooking class. Kento was frustrated as usual, and Cye was bored.

"Gods!" Kento groaned as he pulled out a dish of black crisps from the oven, "This is supposed to be bread..."

Cye sighed as he eyed his own masterpiece, sitting on the teacher's desk and already half eaten. Cye turned and glanced at Kento's food and burst out laughing. 

"Dude, cut me some slack or help me!"

Cye shook his head, "Kento, you're supposed to cook it at 250 degrees for 20 minutes, not 500 degrees for 5 minutes!"

"Well, I thought that it would just save time...." he grumbled and threw his inedible food in the garbage can. "Damn, this is another class I'm going to fail..." 

"Well, you're lucky that you don't have to eat your food to pass," Cye remarked with a laugh. "Besides," he paused and waited for the bell to finish ringing, "There's the bell."

Cye and Kento grabbed their stuff and headed for the door. 

~*~

Eve folded her letter and stood up, "C'mon Jen, there's the bell for lunch." 

"Are you going to give the letter to Ryo during lunch?" she asked, following Evelyn inside the school.

Eve hesitated, "Should I?"

Jen looked at her like she was stupid, "Of course!"

"OK," Eve smiled, "I'll do it." She picked up her books and headed for the door, her note in her pocket.

~*~

As Sage picked up his things, he kept an eye on Twister and Nic. He thought it was rather odd that they were suddenly bolting for the cafeteria. Together. Twister was the biggest freshman nerd and Nic was the senior bully. 

"Don't you find that just a tad bit odd?" Sage asked Rowen as they walked down to the cafeteria. 

Rowen nodded, "Has me confused."

Sage grinned. "Yeah. Hey, there's Ryo and Cye." Sage pointed to a round table set to the side of the cafeteria. 

Rowen and Sage walked over to the table and sat down. "What's going on guys?"

"Nothing. Just waiting for the line to go down before we go up and get anything." Ryo replied. "But Kento's already up there."

Rowen chuckled, "Figures." 

"Hey, Ryo,"

"Yeah, Sage?"

"Isn't that Evelyn?" He pointed to her as she walked over to their table.

Ryo's face went a shade pinker. "Hey Eve..." he stood up and greeted Eve.

"Ryo," she paused to eye his friends, then make eye contact. "Look, I'm sorry. And... well, here." She reached into her pocket and pulled out the folded note. "Just read this and you'll understand." She gave him a smile and left, headed towards Nic. 

Ryo was amazed, "Shit, I didn't think it would change her that much..."

"Open it, Ryo," Rowen said.

"Chill, I'm getting there!" He took a deep breath and unfolded the letter, then read it to himself, _'Ryo, The only way I know how to say what I feel is I'm sorry. I guess things between me and Nic haven't been the best lately and maybe that's why I've been a little more edgy around you. You're a sweet guy it turns out, thanks to Jenesis. She's said nothing but complimentary things about you and I've grown to like you but not show it. And you should know why. I'm not saying I'm going to dump my boyfriend for you, but maybe with more talk and time, you and I can become friends. Hope to see you later - Evelyn.'_ Ryo stood up and shouted with excitement.

"Chill man, don't draw too much attention to yourself," Kento replied, already started on his mound of food. 

"What did she say?" Rowen asked.

"She said that I'm a sweet guy and that we can be friends!!!" Ryo shouted, a smile a mile long placed on his face. He did a little victory dance.

Kento spewed his food on the table in laughter. "That was the lamest little dance I've ever seen!!" 

"Dude, shut the fuck up," Ryo smacked him with the back of the letter. "You would be happy too if your crush said you were sweet."

Kento still held the smile of amusement on his face, "Yeah, ok, Ryo."

"Well, whatever, but I'm going to go up and get something to eat. The line is dead now." Sage replied, standing up. Rowen and Cye and Ryo followed.

Rowen grabbed a lunch tray, making a face when he saw the main dish, "Cye, you should be back there instead of those fat lunch ladies," he remarked while heading straight for the desert table. 

Cye blushed, "It doesn't look THAT bad..." He grabbed the spoon to put some of the brown mush onto his plate, but then it bubbled, "Egh... never mind." 

Ryo didn't take anything but an apple. "I'm saving my appetite until AFTER we get outta this shit hole."

Then there was a scream. A loud, spine tingling scream that could only be calling death. 

Sage, Ryo, Rowen, and Cye all hit the floor and watched the cafeteria turn into chaos. Everyone was running around, screaming... until a gunshot.

"EVERYONE SHUT UP AND SIT THE _FUCK_ DOWN!" commanded a dark and loud voice. "The LAST person to sit down is gonna be DEAD!"

The four boys scrambled to their feet and rushed to their table. Kento was still there, thankfully. Then they finally figured out who was the commander...

"Nic," Kento cursed under his breath,"What a fucking dumbass!"

Ryo shushed him by kicking his leg. "Shut-up!"

"What the _hell_ does he want?" Kento rasped.

Nic held his gun to close to his chest as he walked around the cafeteria, eyeing everyone with hatred. He picked up a boy, looking freshman if not sophomore. "You..." he growled, "were the last one to sit, am I right?"

The boy just froze, "D-Don't..."

"Don't what?" Nic screamed, "Kill you!?"

The boy swallowed hard and gazed around the cafeteria, looking for any help, any escape. 

"This just isn't your day, isn't it?" Nic laughed grimly. He pulled a butcher knife from his back and put it up to the boy's throat. Then with one flick his wrist, the boy crumpled to the floor, blood flowing everywhere. 

Cye's faced paled, and Ryo closed his eyes. Kento's eyes got smaller by the second as his glare intensified. Sage was biting his lip so hard that it began to bleed and Rowen's swallow could've been heard from across the room.

Nic kicked the boy out of his way and kept walking, "Let THAT... be a lesson to all you." He continued to walk until he got to the Ronin's table. He stopped and stared them down. Then, quicker than liquid lighting, he grabbed Kento by the arm and held him up to his face. 

_'God, Kento... PLEASE don't do anything, PLEASE!' _ Cye prayed to himself. 

Rowen gritted his teeth and looked upon them with worry. 

Nic gazed over Kento for the longest time, tension growing and growing that waves were practically flowing off of them. But just when everyone thought that Nic was going to kiss him, he growled and spat in his face. Kento screamed in his rush to grab Nic by the throat, but Nic pushed him with such a force that Kento landed on the table and broke it in half. 

Ryo and Sage rushed to keep Kento down, and keep him from attacking Nic. But it was no use. Kento was stronger than both of them put together. 

He threw Ryo and Sage off of him and stood up, "Nic the Dick..." he started, chuckling as he wiped the spit from his cheek. "Those narcotics finally getting to you?"

Nic licked his lips and cracked his neck. "What's that? All I heard was the wind..."

Kento jumped to a defensive position, "You have a problem with me? 'Cause there is _definitely _no problem here."

Nic stared hard into his eyes, "Yes, Faun. There is a problem. You." With that, Nic grabbed the dagger from the floor and threw it. 

Rowen clamped his jaw down and shut his eyes as he heard the knife break through bone. The kind of sharp cracking noise that you never forget. 

Kento fell to the ground, stunned. The dagger was nailed into his right shoulder, nothing of the blade was even visible for how far it was in him. Cye and Sage immediately started to help him, but feared to remove the blade because Kento could bleed to death. 

Nic walked away, chuckling to himself. He raised his left arm and made some sort of hand signal and whistled. Or so it sounded like a whistle. It was almost like a dog cry. But what really shocked everyone was that Evelyn rose from her seat and walked to Nic. Twister and Jenesis followed her. 

"What the hell?!" Ryo asked to himself more than anyone else. 

Nic started to walk in a circle, "NOW... I want EVERYONE to stay in the school unless notified. No one is to leave unless you are asking for death. I have people guarding every entrance and exit to this place." Nic paused to crack his knuckles. "I promise all of you, if you stay here, there will be no problem. And to make sure that everyone stays here, I will do an hourly attendance, here in the cafeteria. If I find that ONE of you is missing, then FIVE of you will be killed. If two... then TEN will die." Nic clamped his hands together and watched as Twister counted the students. 

"There is 96... but 97 if that one," he pointed to Kento, "lives."

Ryo glared at him in the hardest way he knew how. 

Nic glanced at his watch. "Alright... exactly 58 minutes remain!"

The cafeteria emptied within minutes. Sage and Ryo and Cye all picked up Kento and carried him behind the lunch line, deep into the kitchen. 

Ryo looked Kento up and down, nervously, "Sage..."

"I'm already on it," Sage replied quickly. He ripped the blade out of Kento, making a horrid face in the process and placed his hands over the blood drenched wound. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

Kento's wound started to heal itself. The blood was drying up, and Kento's face faded from stark white, to a pale pink. 

Ryo watched Sage. His eyelids flickered and his face grew pale. Then his lips when from lively pink, to dark violet, then to blue. But it wasn't until Sage started to sway back and forth that Ryo stopped him. 

Ryo shoved Sage away, "Sage! Dammit, you're not supposed to kill yourself!" He shouted.

But he got no reply. Sage laid motionless on the floor. 

"Rowen!" Ryo yelled. "Help him!"

Rowen knelt over his friend and checked his pulse. He could barely pick it up, but it was there, steady and solid. Rowen nodded, "He's fine, just passed out, probably."

Cye ripped off the bottom part of his pants and tied them tightly around Kento's shoulder. "That'll hold him for awhile," he whispered. 

Ryo sighed and collapsed against the wall, "This is f-u-c-k-ed up..." he mumbled. 

Cye swallowed and pulled his legs into his chest. "What are we going to do?"

Rowen bit his tongue as he continued to run his hand through Sage's hair, keeping him comforted, "I don't know, but whatever we do we gotta do it fast."

Ryo agreed, "And what's up with Evelyn and Jen? They all looked hypnotized or something!"

"Somebody's gotta know something."

Cye stood up, "Should I go try and find out?"

Rowen shook his head, "No, that'll take to long. I say we do what we're best at."

Ryo tried not to smile, "Let's armor up guys!"

Cye nodded, "Let's do it and take out this bastard!"

"But we shouldn't armor up completely. I think the best way to attack would be to sneak up on him. And we all know that would be impossible with our heavy armor."

Cye and Ryo nodded, "But that will be a completely different story when Kento wakes up."

"That's why we have to do it now!" Rowen stood up and grabbed the blue ball out of his back pocket. With a quick flash a light, he was in his sub-armor. Ryo and Cye followed. 

"But what should we do with Kento and Sage?" Cye asked, following a little behind Ryo and Rowen as the headed out of the cafeteria. "And we have to be back here in an hour if all else fails, remember?"

Rowen sighed, "Well, they're Ronin's. Obviously they can tell when we're in our armor. So they will be able to figure something out."

"But what about the hour thing?" Ryo asked. 

Rowen looked around and bit his lip, "Honestly, let's just all plan to meet back here in 45 minutes. Even if we do beat him, at least we can all re-group."

Cye and Ryo nodded. 

Rowen looked at the vent above him, "Someone help me up."

~*~

Sage awoke with a long miserable groan. He brought his hands up to his eyes and rubbed them, trying to clear his blurry vision. But nothing seeming to work, he tried to stand up, slamming his hand on the floor next to him. The floor was wet. He looked at what his hand was sitting it but only jerked it away with a nervous yelp. It was blood. A huge puddle of blood. His vision was finally coming around and he noticed that Kento was no longer with him. And neither were any of the guys. 

_'Shit!'_ he thought, _'What the hell happened?!'_ Then a flash of blue, light blue, and red fazed through his mind._ 'Ryo, Ro and Cye... but Kento?' _Sage paused again to scan his surrounding. Still, nothing but that same puddle. _'My gods... did something happen to Kento?!' _Sage's thoughts raced with every worse case scenario. He only got nervous and more worried. He stood up and took to his sub-armor then looked towards the door, ready to head out. But something stopped him.

Two beady, bright red eyes stared at him in the darkness of the doorway. But they sat no higher than 3 feet off the ground. 

"H-hello?" Sage stuttered.

A low growl returned.

Sage nervously got into defensive position and kept his eyes on the ones that were glowing back at him. But then something clattered behind him. Sage jumped and whipped around, looking everywhere in the dimly lit kitchen. But there was nothing. And when he turned back to look in the doorway, the eyes were gone. Sage took a deep breath and cautiously started to walk towards the door again. 

A wind started to pick from nowhere, its whistles sending chills up and down Sage's spine. The door started to sway, making noises that sounded like a woman's shrill scream. Then the door slammed shut. 

Sage filled his lungs with fear and exhaled. Dark scarlet handprints gouged the door, so fresh that Sage could taste the metallic stench. Then the two eyes appeared in the door window which was almost at the top of the door.

Sage's breath was quick and his heart was beating faster than it ever had before. _'What the hell is that?!'_ he asked himself, sweat started to form on his brow. 

The thing behind the door suddenly screamed and pounded into the door, leaving a huge dent. 

Sage suddenly noticed the vent in the ceiling. He jumped for it just as soon as the thing screamed again, pounding the door in. Sage grabbed the vent and quickly heaved himself inside. As he laid in the vent, taking huge gasps of air, he managed to relieve himself a little. He listened for a moment or two hearing nothing. Curious, he looked down the vent into the kitchen. 

A little girl, no older than 5, stared up at him from the kitchen floor. She had short blond hair and a dark blue dress on. 

Sage was flabbergasted. "What?"

The girl closed her eyes and screamed, the exact same scream as the thing behind the door. Then she melted into the floor, like something was inhaling her from underneath. The only thing that was left was a tiny dot of blood.

Sage exhaled and blinked a couple times, not believing what he just saw. But it only made him wonder what else was going on in the school. He sighed and started to crawl down the vent, heading for the stronger signals of Rowen, Ryo and Cye. 


	2. Chapter 2

"Eve!" Jen ran outside, far behind her class that had already been outside for 5 minutes. 

Evelyn looked up from her paper sitting in her lap, "Jen, what's up!? You're late!"

"Shhh!" Jen sat down next to her friend underneath the big apple tree and handed her Ryo's note. "This is Ryo's real note that he wanted to give you. Just read it, please."

Eve rolled her eyes, "What the hell..."

Jen stood back up, "Eve, just fucking read the thing. I have a good feeling about this boy."

Eve bit her tongue, "Whatever. I guess I'll read it."

Jen smiled, "Good. I'll be right back cause I gotta explain myself to the teacher."

Evelyn folded her long legs underneath her and unfolded the letter. "Dear Evelyn. I know you don't want to hear from me right now, but just hear me out for 3 minutes. I know you don't like me. I know that you're with Nic. I want you to know that I know those two things before you read on. I like you. It can't be put any easier. I love thinking about you.... thinking about your eyes and how you would look with me. But right now, all I'm asking is that we be friends. I don't want anything else right now except for that. -Ryo."

Evelyn smiled. It was short and she liked it.

Jen ran back down to her friend and plopped herself on the ground. "So... what did he say?"

"Well, honestly, I was expecting this asshole to write me something about how me and Nic should break up and how he wants me or something... but this letter... he's... well, he seems innocent and sweet."

Jen cracked a huge smile. "I told you! Back when I was dating his friend Rowen, Ryo was the big sweetheart of them all. He's a huge teddy bear."

Eve shook her head and laughed, "Alright, but that still doesn't mean that I'm going to break up with my Nicholas."

"Evelyn... Nic is a freak! I'm sorry but he is. And he is really acting weird lately! He keeps talking about how shitty the cafeteria is and how he's going to 'spice it up' lately. Do you know what I mean? What is up with that?"

Eve swallowed, "Yeah I know what you mean. But we've been together for 8 months. That's a long time to stay committed for me."

Jen nodded. 

"I trust him so much... you know he's just saying stuff to be saying it." Eve sighed and bit her bottom lip. "But I will tell you what I'm going to do... I'm going to write Ryo back." She smiled and ripped a piece of paper out of her notebook and began to write.

~*~

Cye and Kento sat in cooking class. Kento was frustrated as usual, and Cye was bored.

"Gods!" Kento groaned as he pulled out a dish of black crisps from the oven, "This is supposed to be bread..."

Cye sighed as he eyed his own masterpiece, sitting on the teacher's desk and already half eaten. Cye turned and glanced at Kento's food and burst out laughing. 

"Dude, cut me some slack or help me!"

Cye shook his head, "Kento, you're supposed to cook it at 250 degrees for 20 minutes, not 500 degrees for 5 minutes!"

"Well, I thought that it would just save time...." he grumbled and threw his inedible food in the garbage can. "Damn, this is another class I'm going to fail..." 

"Well, you're lucky that you don't have to eat your food to pass," Cye remarked with a laugh. "Besides," he paused and waited for the bell to finish ringing, "There's the bell."

Cye and Kento grabbed their stuff and headed for the door. 

~*~

Eve folded her letter and stood up, "C'mon Jen, there's the bell for lunch." 

"Are you going to give the letter to Ryo during lunch?" she asked, following Evelyn inside the school.

Eve hesitated, "Should I?"

Jen looked at her like she was stupid, "Of course!"

"OK," Eve smiled, "I'll do it." She picked up her books and headed for the door, her note in her pocket.

~*~

As Sage picked up his things, he kept an eye on Twister and Nic. He thought it was rather odd that they were suddenly bolting for the cafeteria. Together. Twister was the biggest freshman nerd and Nic was the senior bully. 

"Don't you find that just a tad bit odd?" Sage asked Rowen as they walked down to the cafeteria. 

Rowen nodded, "Has me confused."

Sage grinned. "Yeah. Hey, there's Ryo and Cye." Sage pointed to a round table set to the side of the cafeteria. 

Rowen and Sage walked over to the table and sat down. "What's going on guys?"

"Nothing. Just waiting for the line to go down before we go up and get anything." Ryo replied. "But Kento's already up there."

Rowen chuckled, "Figures." 

"Hey, Ryo,"

"Yeah, Sage?"

"Isn't that Evelyn?" He pointed to her as she walked over to their table.

Ryo's face went a shade pinker. "Hey Eve..." he stood up and greeted Eve.

"Ryo," she paused to eye his friends, then make eye contact. "Look, I'm sorry. And... well, here." She reached into her pocket and pulled out the folded note. "Just read this and you'll understand." She gave him a smile and left, headed towards Nic. 

Ryo was amazed, "Shit, I didn't think it would change her that much..."

"Open it, Ryo," Rowen said.

"Chill, I'm getting there!" He took a deep breath and unfolded the letter, then read it to himself, _'Ryo, The only way I know how to say what I feel is I'm sorry. I guess things between me and Nic haven't been the best lately and maybe that's why I've been a little more edgy around you. You're a sweet guy it turns out, thanks to Jenesis. She's said nothing but complimentary things about you and I've grown to like you but not show it. And you should know why. I'm not saying I'm going to dump my boyfriend for you, but maybe with more talk and time, you and I can become friends. Hope to see you later - Evelyn.'_ Ryo stood up and shouted with excitement.

"Chill man, don't draw too much attention to yourself," Kento replied, already started on his mound of food. 

"What did she say?" Rowen asked.

"She said that I'm a sweet guy and that we can be friends!!!" Ryo shouted, a smile a mile long placed on his face. He did a little victory dance.

Kento spewed his food on the table in laughter. "That was the lamest little dance I've ever seen!!" 

"Dude, shut the fuck up," Ryo smacked him with the back of the letter. "You would be happy too if your crush said you were sweet."

Kento still held the smile of amusement on his face, "Yeah, ok, Ryo."

"Well, whatever, but I'm going to go up and get something to eat. The line is dead now." Sage replied, standing up. Rowen and Cye and Ryo followed.

Rowen grabbed a lunch tray, making a face when he saw the main dish, "Cye, you should be back there instead of those fat lunch ladies," he remarked while heading straight for the desert table. 

Cye blushed, "It doesn't look THAT bad..." He grabbed the spoon to put some of the brown mush onto his plate, but then it bubbled, "Egh... never mind." 

Ryo didn't take anything but an apple. "I'm saving my appetite until AFTER we get outta this shit hole."

Then there was a scream. A loud, spine tingling scream that could only be calling death. 

Sage, Ryo, Rowen, and Cye all hit the floor and watched the cafeteria turn into chaos. Everyone was running around, screaming... until a gunshot.


	3. Chapter 3

"EVERYONE SHUT UP AND SIT THE _FUCK_ DOWN!" commanded a dark and loud voice. "The LAST person to sit down is gonna be DEAD!"

The four boys scrambled to their feet and rushed to their table. Kento was still there, thankfully. Then they finally figured out who was the commander...

"Nic," Kento cursed under his breath,"What a fucking dumbass!"

Ryo shushed him by kicking his leg. "Shut-up!"

"What the _hell_ does he want?" Kento rasped.

Nic held his gun to close to his chest as he walked around the cafeteria, eyeing everyone with hatred. He picked up a boy, looking freshman if not sophomore. "You..." he growled, "were the last one to sit, am I right?"

The boy just froze, "D-Don't..."

"Don't what?" Nic screamed, "Kill you!?"

The boy swallowed hard and gazed around the cafeteria, looking for any help, any escape. 

"This just isn't your day, isn't it?" Nic laughed grimly. He pulled a butcher knife from his back and put it up to the boy's throat. Then with one flick his wrist, the boy crumpled to the floor, blood flowing everywhere. 

Cye's faced paled, and Ryo closed his eyes. Kento's eyes got smaller by the second as his glare intensified. Sage was biting his lip so hard that it began to bleed and Rowen's swallow could've been heard from across the room.

Nic kicked the boy out of his way and kept walking, "Let THAT... be a lesson to all you." He continued to walk until he got to the Ronin's table. He stopped and stared them down. Then, quicker than liquid lighting, he grabbed Kento by the arm and held him up to his face. 

_'God, Kento... PLEASE don't do anything, PLEASE!' _ Cye prayed to himself. 

Rowen gritted his teeth and looked upon them with worry. 

Nic gazed over Kento for the longest time, tension growing and growing that waves were practically flowing off of them. But just when everyone thought that Nic was going to kiss him, he growled and spat in his face. Kento screamed in his rush to grab Nic by the throat, but Nic pushed him with such a force that Kento landed on the table and broke it in half. 

Ryo and Sage rushed to keep Kento down, and keep him from attacking Nic. But it was no use. Kento was stronger than both of them put together. 

He threw Ryo and Sage off of him and stood up, "Nic the Dick..." he started, chuckling as he wiped the spit from his cheek. "Those narcotics finally getting to you?"

Nic licked his lips and cracked his neck. "What's that? All I heard was the wind..."

Kento jumped to a defensive position, "You have a problem with me? 'Cause there is _definitely _no problem here."

Nic stared hard into his eyes, "Yes, Faun. There is a problem. You." With that, Nic grabbed the dagger from the floor and threw it. 

Rowen clamped his jaw down and shut his eyes as he heard the knife break through bone. The kind of sharp cracking noise that you never forget. 

Kento fell to the ground, stunned. The dagger was nailed into his right shoulder, nothing of the blade was even visible for how far it was in him. Cye and Sage immediately started to help him, but feared to remove the blade because Kento could bleed to death. 

Nic walked away, chuckling to himself. He raised his left arm and made some sort of hand signal and whistled. Or so it sounded like a whistle. It was almost like a dog cry. But what really shocked everyone was that Evelyn rose from her seat and walked to Nic. Twister and Jenesis followed her. 

"What the hell?!" Ryo asked to himself more than anyone else. 

Nic started to walk in a circle, "NOW... I want EVERYONE to stay in the school unless notified. No one is to leave unless you are asking for death. I have people guarding every entrance and exit to this place." Nic paused to crack his knuckles. "I promise all of you, if you stay here, there will be no problem. And to make sure that everyone stays here, I will do an hourly attendance, here in the cafeteria. If I find that ONE of you is missing, then FIVE of you will be killed. If two... then TEN will die." Nic clamped his hands together and watched as Twister counted the students. 

"There is 96... but 97 if that one," he pointed to Kento, "lives."

Ryo glared at him in the hardest way he knew how. 

Nic glanced at his watch. "Alright... exactly 58 minutes remain!"

The cafeteria emptied within minutes. Sage and Ryo and Cye all picked up Kento and carried him behind the lunch line, deep into the kitchen. 

Ryo looked Kento up and down, nervously, "Sage..."

"I'm already on it," Sage replied quickly. He ripped the blade out of Kento, making a horrid face in the process and placed his hands over the blood drenched wound. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

Kento's wound started to heal itself. The blood was drying up, and Kento's face faded from stark white, to a pale pink. 

Ryo watched Sage. His eyelids flickered and his face grew pale. Then his lips when from lively pink, to dark violet, then to blue. But it wasn't until Sage started to sway back and forth that Ryo stopped him. 

Ryo shoved Sage away, "Sage! Dammit, you're not supposed to kill yourself!" He shouted.

But he got no reply. Sage laid motionless on the floor. 

"Rowen!" Ryo yelled. "Help him!"

Rowen knelt over his friend and checked his pulse. He could barely pick it up, but it was there, steady and solid. Rowen nodded, "He's fine, just passed out, probably."

Cye ripped off the bottom part of his pants and tied them tightly around Kento's shoulder. "That'll hold him for awhile," he whispered. 

Ryo sighed and collapsed against the wall, "This is f-u-c-k-ed up..." he mumbled. 

Cye swallowed and pulled his legs into his chest. "What are we going to do?"

Rowen bit his tongue as he continued to run his hand through Sage's hair, keeping him comforted, "I don't know, but whatever we do we gotta do it fast."

Ryo agreed, "And what's up with Evelyn and Jen? They all looked hypnotized or something!"

"Somebody's gotta know something."

Cye stood up, "Should I go try and find out?"

Rowen shook his head, "No, that'll take to long. I say we do what we're best at."

Ryo tried not to smile, "Let's armor up guys!"

Cye nodded, "Let's do it and take out this bastard!"

"But we shouldn't armor up completely. I think the best way to attack would be to sneak up on him. And we all know that would be impossible with our heavy armor."

Cye and Ryo nodded, "But that will be a completely different story when Kento wakes up."

"That's why we have to do it now!" Rowen stood up and grabbed the blue ball out of his back pocket. With a quick flash a light, he was in his sub-armor. Ryo and Cye followed. 

"But what should we do with Kento and Sage?" Cye asked, following a little behind Ryo and Rowen as the headed out of the cafeteria. "And we have to be back here in an hour if all else fails, remember?"

Rowen sighed, "Well, they're Ronin's. Obviously they can tell when we're in our armor. So they will be able to figure something out."

"But what about the hour thing?" Ryo asked. 

Rowen looked around and bit his lip, "Honestly, let's just all plan to meet back here in 45 minutes. Even if we do beat him, at least we can all re-group."

Cye and Ryo nodded. 

Rowen looked at the vent above him, "Someone help me up."

~*~

Sage awoke with a long miserable groan. He brought his hands up to his eyes and rubbed them, trying to clear his blurry vision. But nothing seeming to work, he tried to stand up, slamming his hand on the floor next to him. The floor was wet. He looked at what his hand was sitting it but only jerked it away with a nervous yelp. It was blood. A huge puddle of blood. His vision was finally coming around and he noticed that Kento was no longer with him. And neither were any of the guys. 

_'Shit!'_ he thought, _'What the hell happened?!'_ Then a flash of blue, light blue, and red fazed through his mind._ 'Ryo, Ro and Cye... but Kento?' _Sage paused again to scan his surrounding. Still, nothing but that same puddle. _'My gods... did something happen to Kento?!' _Sage's thoughts raced with every worse case scenario. He only got nervous and more worried. He stood up and took to his sub-armor then looked towards the door, ready to head out. But something stopped him.

Two beady, bright red eyes stared at him in the darkness of the doorway. But they sat no higher than 3 feet off the ground. 

"H-hello?" Sage stuttered.

A low growl returned.

Sage nervously got into defensive position and kept his eyes on the ones that were glowing back at him. But then something clattered behind him. Sage jumped and whipped around, looking everywhere in the dimly lit kitchen. But there was nothing. And when he turned back to look in the doorway, the eyes were gone. Sage took a deep breath and cautiously started to walk towards the door again. 

A wind started to pick from nowhere, its whistles sending chills up and down Sage's spine. The door started to sway, making noises that sounded like a woman's shrill scream. Then the door slammed shut. 

Sage filled his lungs with fear and exhaled. Dark scarlet handprints gouged the door, so fresh that Sage could taste the metallic stench. Then the two eyes appeared in the door window which was almost at the top of the door.

Sage's breath was quick and his heart was beating faster than it ever had before. _'What the hell is that?!'_ he asked himself, sweat started to form on his brow. 

The thing behind the door suddenly screamed and pounded into the door, leaving a huge dent. 

Sage suddenly noticed the vent in the ceiling. He jumped for it just as soon as the thing screamed again, pounding the door in. Sage grabbed the vent and quickly heaved himself inside. As he laid in the vent, taking huge gasps of air, he managed to relieve himself a little. He listened for a moment or two hearing nothing. Curious, he looked down the vent into the kitchen. 

A little girl, no older than 5, stared up at him from the kitchen floor. She had short blond hair and a dark blue dress on. 

Sage was flabbergasted. "What?"

The girl closed her eyes and screamed, the exact same scream as the thing behind the door. Then she melted into the floor, like something was inhaling her from underneath. The only thing that was left was a tiny dot of blood.

Sage exhaled and blinked a couple times, not believing what he just saw. But it only made him wonder what else was going on in the school. He sighed and started to crawl down the vent, heading for the stronger signals of Rowen, Ryo and Cye. 


End file.
